This invention relates in general to measuring instruments and in particular to hand-held transducer gauge devices for taking contour (flushness) and gap measurement readings of two adjacent parts.
In manufacturing operations there is often a need to measure the gap between two adjacent parts as well as to measure the flushness or contour of surfaces of the parts in order to inspect the effect of previous manufacturing operations, or to insure the proper position of one part relative to another. For example, it may be desirable to cheek the installation of the hood on an automobile by checking, at various locations, the gap between the hood and the adjacent fender of the automobile. Additionally, it may be desirable to measure the vertical alignment of the hood with the adjacent fender of the automobile, to ensure hood is flush with the adjacent portion of the fenders. Such a measurement of flushness is also known as a contour measurement.
A variety of gauging devices are available for making these measurements, ranging in complexity from a hand-held ruler to automatic probes controlled by servo-systems and providing digital outputs of their measured positions.